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Unexpected News that nobody could have foreseen.
Since the beginning of last year, 2000 Finns are getting money from the government each month – and they are not expected to do anything in return. The participants, aged 25–58, are all unemployed, and were selected at random by Kela, Finland's social-security institution.
Instead of unemployment benefits, the participants now receive €560, or $690, per month, tax free. Should they find a job during the two-year trial, they still get to keep the money.
While the project is praised internationally for being at the cutting edge of social welfare, back in Finland, decision makers are quietly pulling the brakes, making a U-turn that is taking the project in a whole new direction.
and . . .
Entrepreneurs who have expressed support for UBI include Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes, and Google's futurist and engineering director Ray Kurzweil.
These tech moguls recognize that UBI, as well as [combating] poverty, could also help solve the problem of increased robotization in the workforce, a problem they are very much part of creating.
and . . .
The existing unemployment benefits were so high, the Finnish government argued, and the system so rigid, an unemployed person might choose not to take a job as they would risk losing money by doing so – the higher your earnings, the lower your social benefits. The basic income was meant as an incentive for people to start working.
This article gives me serious doubts about whether a program like this can work and whether other countries will try it.
Previously: Finland: Universal Basic Income Planned for Later in 2016
Finland Launches Basic Income Experiment With Jan. 1 Cheques for Those in Pilot Project
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 20 2018, @12:18AM (8 children)
khallow is going to be so disappointed! He was going on constantly about the UBI, just a while ago! But, turns out Marx was right, and capitalism, and even "market socialism" depend of the vast army of the unemployed to make the economy work. Lazy bums! The bums have lost, Mr. Lebowski! Why don't you get a job, sir?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 20 2018, @01:19AM (3 children)
Uh... no. Capitalism depends on people interact through voluntary agreement, as defined by contracts in advance of interaction. That's it.
In essence, then, Capitalism depends on people being productive, not unemployed.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by captain normal on Friday April 20 2018, @04:40AM (1 child)
"Capitalism depends on people being productive, not unemployed."
OK...then how do you explain Lawyers, Investors, Politicians, Trustfundians etc seeming to be successful in our so called Capitalist society?
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 3, Funny) by khallow on Friday April 20 2018, @04:48AM
What is there to explain about them? Lawyers - you can lose a lot from a badly worded contract. Investors - it is unproductive if someone has capital that they can't lend to other people. Politicians - society level crap has to be handled somehow in a predictable manner. It's unproductive to destabilize your society. And trustfundians are just an exit strategy for wealth building. Not much point to working hard and such, if the rewards for such aren't going to things you care about.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 20 2018, @12:39PM
Well, if there is no unemployment, workers might start asking for higher wages... and you can't threat them to get them replaced by someone else.
Your profit will drop. OTOH unemployed people are subsidized publicly, so that doesn't munch into your private profits.
(Score: 2, Touché) by khallow on Friday April 20 2018, @02:43AM (3 children)
If you're unemployed, you're not working and thus, not generating profit for the capitalist fat cat. Your assertion doesn't make sense even from the Marxist point of view.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 20 2018, @03:16AM (2 children)
Even you, khallow, can see that the existence of the Lumpenproletariat is to scare the working class into accepting whatever terms the Capitalist masters wish to offer them, or you could end up pushing a grocery cart full of plastic bags, or, living in a van, down by the river [youtube.com]!!
(Score: 2, Touché) by khallow on Friday April 20 2018, @04:03AM (1 child)
Can't say that Marx didn't have a sense of theater. Doesn't make his economics viable though.
As to your assertion, a scared working class saves money rather than spends it. Not good for the narrative.
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Saturday April 21 2018, @05:30AM
While I agree with this in regards to the economy, in something akin to a tragedy of the commons it is still to the benefit of each employer to have their own workforce be too scared to unionise and demand better wages/conditions.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.